Samurai is a flat ride located at

Thorpe Park Thorpe Park Resort, commonly known as Thorpe Park, is an amusement park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, southwest of Central London. It is operated by Merlin Entertai ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. It was originally installed at nearby

Chessington World of Adventures Chessington World of Adventures Resort is a theme park, zoo and hotel complex in Chessington, Greater London, England, around southwest of Central London. The complex opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931, with the theme park being developed along ...

in 1999, being transferred to Thorpe Park in 2003. The song played on the ride is a modified version of "Burly Brawl", from the soundtrack of ''

The Matrix Reloaded ''The Matrix Reloaded'' is a 2003 American science-fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is a sequel to ''The Matrix'' (1999) and the second installment in the ''Matrix'' film series. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Laure ...

''.

Technical details

Ride Type: Mondial Top-Scan
Height: 60 ft (18 m)
Length: Approximately 2 minutes (Setting Dependent)
Height Restrictions: 1.4 m(55 in.)
On-Ride Photo: No
G-Force: +4g / -3g
Status: Operating
Capacity: 30 seats per ride, 400 riders per hour

Samurai at Chessington

Samurai is a

Top Scan Top Scan is an amusement ride made by Mondial. Design and operation The ride has six free-rotating gondolas each with five seats and the standard Mondial Triple-Lock Harnesses, including the belt. As the ride begins, the main support rises upw ...

ride from the Dutch company Mondial. The ride was originally installed at

Chessington World Of Adventures Chessington World of Adventures Resort is a theme park, zoo and hotel complex in Chessington, Greater London, England, around southwest of Central London. The complex opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931, with the theme park being developed along ...

in 1999 as part of the Mystic East section of the park, and replaced the original plan of installing a Huss Flic Flac on the site. The ride was the first of its kind in a UK amusement park, though a travelling version, "Top Buzz" debuted on the UK fair circuit the previous year. Samurai stayed at Chessington until the end of the 2003 season when it was closed, dismantled and moved to

. Reasons for the ride's move are largely speculative. Most enthusiasts generally regard the decision to be part of

Tussaud's Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in 1835 by French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud in London, spawning similar museums in major cities around the world. While it used to be spelled as "Madame Tussaud's"; the apostrophe is no longer us ...

(the company which owned Thorpe Park and Chessington at the time) plans to change the target audience of both parks. Chessington was intended to become a more family orientated park and installations since the 2002 season have been in line with this policy. Similarly Thorpe Park has moved towards attracting the 14-30 market and has installed thrill rides since this policy emerged. Keen-eyed guests can still spot a reminder of Samurai at Chessington when they ride the Dragon Falls log flume - a theming item depicting a samurai warrior gripping the head of his decapitated foe, emerging disconcertingly from the undergrowth.

Samurai at Thorpe Park

Samurai opened at

as the sole new ride for the 2004 season. It sits in the site that had been occupied by the

Calgary Stampede The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and featu ...

ride. Some confusion emerged with regards to the location of this ride in relation to Thorpe Park's themed "lands". Calgary Stampede was a Canada Creek ride yet Samurai was painted and themed to match the Lost City rides, similar to Vortex. This decision sparked discussion of a "three areas" system for Thorpe Park where the existing themed areas would be condensed into three larger themed areas, which would probably be the Lost City, Amity Cove and Calypso Quay areas of the park. Subsequent installations in Canada Creek seem to have dispelled this rumour.(As of 2016, Samurai has been listed as a ride in the Old Town area) Samurai's arrival at Thorpe Park met with mixed reactions. The move had been long discussed on fan sites but few saw it as more than a fantasy. When the move was announced, many fans were disappointed to see Chessington lose one of its best (if not the best) rides. There was further controversy when it emerged that Samurai was to retain its name at Thorpe Park, despite not fitting the style and theme of the area. There have also been suggestions that since its move to Thorpe Park it has been run on less intense settings and the use of manual control has been all but abandoned, to the disappointment of enthusiasts. Although during Fright Nights, the settings on Samurai were raised on some occasions, comparisons to other

rides around Europe, particularly on the travelling fair circuit, show that even at Chessington the ride was already running well below its maximum speed and intensity. There were rumours that the Samurai was to be integrated into the Canada Creek area and re-themedhttp://www.projectdylan.co.uk/page/Info for the opening of the new SAW: The Ride roller coaster opening in 2009, however this did not occur. Instead, the blue fences around the ride (seen in the above photo) were painted red to fit in better with the roller coaster. As well as this, the ride received a queue extension so that it could cope with the increased number of visitors in the area of the park.

References

{{Chessington World of Adventures Thorpe Park Amusement rides manufactured by Mondial Amusement rides introduced in 2004 Operating amusement attractions 2004 establishments in England Chessington World of Adventures past rides